by A. R. Wise
"That's not what I asked." I wasn't worried about my health. "I asked if it's gotten any larger."
"In what period of time are you curious about?"
I walked away from the mirror, disgusted by my hideous aberration, and back to the grey footprints. "In the past year."
Another avatar of myself appeared beside the first. The new avatar was a copy of me from exactly one year ago. The younger me smiled and waved as I studied her face.
"Here," said my current copied likeness as she pointed at her own mole. The screen split in two and each view zoomed in on one of my avatar's moles so that I could compare them easier. My suspicion was validated.
"It has grown."
The view zoomed back out and only my current avatar was standing there now. "The change has not been perceptible to the naked eye. It has grown by a fraction of a centimeter."
"At that rate, I'll be hideous in no time."
"It is nothing to be concerned about, Cobra. If it were, we would have it removed. In fact, the Administrators believe it defines your beauty." She referred to herself, and the other people who ran the facility, as the Administrators. They operated as one, and for all we knew they didn't exist. No one had ever met the people on the screens, although most of us assumed the Instructors, who were avatars of older women that appeared on the view screens throughout the day, were digital representations of the Administrators.
I rolled my eyes and sighed at her foolish suggestion that a blemish like the mole under my eye was anything other than disgusting. "I don't think it defines my beauty. It makes me look like one of the Reds." The red haired girls were almost all marred with freckles, completely unlike the Yellows, who got their name because of their blonde hair. The Facility only had Reds and Yellows in it, although an Instructor with brown hair showed up once, which started a flurry of rumors among the girls that Browns existed on the outside. The controversy caused such fervor that the Brown Instructor was replaced by a Yellow one a few weeks later. The damage was done though, and many of the girls began to have nightmares about the brown haired people waiting on the outside. Some of the younger girls were even caught drawing pictures of monstrous Browns in their sketchbooks.
"You're being silly," said my avatar. "Are you ready for your exercises?"
"I need to go to the bathroom first."
"Okay, I'll wait." The screen turned off as I went to the toilet in the corner. I lived in a ten by ten box, with white walls, white furnishing, and a white toilet. No one else was allowed inside of our rooms, a rule that was strictly enforced. Attached to this area was the Readiness Room, which contained a steam shower and a dressing area. It was situated between my room and the main hall that led to the Common Room where we all met for meals.
I slid off my undergarment, sat on the toilet, and listened to the hollow sound as my urine struck the metal plate deep within the pipe below. The Administrators kept careful track of the chemicals expelled in the urine of the girls in the facility, and I had been warned that it was a bad idea to try and trick them. I should've listened.
I'd been tossing and turning the night before because I threw my purple pill into the incinerator. I wanted to see if I could fall asleep without it. I eventually did, but it took far longer than I was used to.
I finished in the bathroom and then walked out of the glass enclosure to get back to my morning exercise. The screen blipped on and my avatar greeted me with a disappointed look.
"Your urine is not showing signs of the purple pill, Cobra."
"That’s weird."
She slunk her shoulders and sighed. "You shouldn't lie to me. I'm your friend. I don't like being lied to."
"Okay, fine. I admit it. I threw my purple in the incinerator last night."
"When?"
I shrugged and tried to remember. "Not long after I got it. I threw it out with my protein cup."
The view screen changed to display multiple different camera views of my domicile. Each screen fast-forwarded through the previous night's activity until it found the footage of me tossing my empty protein cup into the hole in the wall that led to the incinerator. The screens paused, reversed, and played through the scene multiple times. Upon each repeated viewing, one or more of the various camera angles would disappear until the Administrators isolated the frame that best depicted how I'd deceived them. It played the scene over and over as my avatar appeared again. She walked into frame as if she'd been watching from just to the side of the view screen.
"That was very deceptive, Cobra. The Administrators don't approve of this type of thing."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see what it would be like to try and fall asleep on my own."
"And?" she asked with a mocking tone.
"I hated it." I lied to her because the Administrators hated it when any of the girls in the Facility undermined their authority. Truthfully, I cherished the hours I spent alone while the Administrators thought I was asleep. It was exhilarating to disobey. That's probably why I had trouble sleeping - I was too excited.
"The Administrators will discuss this," she said to me with a disapproving glare. "They will inform you of your punishment after Morning Courses. Now, let's start your exercises."
I did as I was told, as usual, for the rest of my morning routine. Exercise was the single most important thing in our lives. Every morning began with a series of stretching exercises, followed by light cardio for exactly twenty two minutes, just enough time to get my body sweating. Other girls told me that their morning routines involved longer, or shorter, cardio regiments. When we asked one of the Instructors about this, we were told that each girl's personal regiment was designed according to their body's specific needs. Some girls had higher metabolisms than others and required less cardio. Over-exercising could cause muscle degradation, and that was something the Administrators wanted to be careful of.
Morning wasn't the only time we exercised. Our days were split into a series of educational hours and training sessions. Some days we spent hours doing gymnastics, others were spent lifting weights, and my favorite were the times we did light combat training with staves that had foam on the ends to keep us from hurting one another. There was a swimming session every day, after Lunch, but our usual course had been interrupted recently by the lascivious actions of two girls.
We were never allowed to see one another naked, but the swimming course required us to wear tight suits that were very revealing. One of the girls in my group had been growing increasingly interested in the bodies of the rest of her class, which led to her asking a friend to disrobe while they were in the pool.
No one was certain of the details, but rumors abounded after the incident about how the girls had slipped off the top half of their suits and were playing with each other's nipples. It was a scandalous (and invigorating) story that no one in the Facility seemed capable of going ten minutes without discussing. It became such a distraction that the Administrators were forced to remove the two guilty girls and meet with us as a group to discuss the implications of what they had done.
We were told that actions such as theirs would endanger our chances of achieving Surface Status. We were being trained for a life in paradise, among the girls that went before us, and we would be given the grand title of Graduate once the Administrators deemed us ready. The Graduates were the most celebrated members of the Surface Society, and all of us were lucky to be among those that might achieve such an honor. There wasn't an age limit, or a testing requirement, for achieving Surface Status. Instead, we were told there was a complex system of calculations based on our biometrics that determined when we were ready to ascend. If we were good, and did as the Administrators and Instructors told us to, we could be taken away at any moment to live in the paradise above. I'd always been excited at the prospect of graduation, even if I did go to the surface and discover it was littered with Browns.
The two girls that had been caught defying the Administrator's policy were expelled from the Facility, never to be heard from a
gain. Paris and Echo had been friends of mine, and I often thought about where they might've ended up. Were they on the Surface now?
We were given a re-education on the matters of self-stimulation, and it was explained to us again how doing things to our own bodies was permitted, with the exception of insertion of fingers or other items into the vagina or anus. External stimulation of the clitoris was acceptable, but only when alone, and the act of stimulating one of our fellow Dawns was strictly prohibited.
Many of the girls snickered during the presentation and were forced to explain what they thought was funny. They agreed that the mere thought of stimulating yourself in the presence of another was gross, and the idea of stimulating someone else was nearly unfathomable. Everyone agreed that nothing like the pool incident would happen again, although we still hadn't stopped talking about it, three months later. I thought of it endlessly, especially when I masturbated.
I completed my morning exercise and then stepped into the steam shower in my Readiness Room. Minutes later I was preening myself in the mirror and taking every precaution to ensure I looked as perfect as possible. My hair was shoulder length and I did my best to press it flat, but it tended to fluff at the top when dry, despite how I tried to tame it. I stared into the mirror and studied the skin beneath my blue eyes. It seemed that an unfortunate side effect of my previous night's deception was a somewhat tired look that revealed itself in the slightly darker color under my eyes.
I was frustrated with my appearance, but time was running short before breakfast and I was forced to forget about it. The lock on the Readiness Room's front door clicked, signaling that the Administrators were now allowing the girls to exit their rooms. If I stayed much longer, a red light would flash along the ceiling tiles, signaling that I was running late for breakfast.
The gross bags under my eyes weren’t going to get any better, no matter how long I stared at them in the mirror. I decided to head out into the Facility to meet my friends before the Administrators turned the red lights on. I'd already defied them once today, and I hoped that punctuality would help soften any punishment that might await me after Morning Courses.
The hallway beyond my Readiness Room was buzzing with activity, like usual, as a sea of blonde and red headed girls rushed to the Common Room. Each of our rooms sat on a slightly raised portion from the main hall and I descended the short stairs as I searched for someone I liked. The first girl I saw was Hailey Dawn, a Red that lived just six doors down from me. She was one of my best friends and was widely regarded as one of the prettiest of the Dawns. Our eyes locked and she waved excitedly as she rushed to meet up with me.
I wasn't fond of many Reds, but Hailey was undeniably sweet. Her eyes were large and emerald green, and when she saw me they seemed to sparkle. The combination of her red hair and green eyes, as contrasted to my blonde hair and blue eyes, made our friendship that much more unlikely, but Hailey was the type of girl it was easy to like. She had a tremendous sense of humor and a quick wit, and always seemed genuinely excited to be with friends. Whereas the other girls were constantly concerned with their social standing, Hailey seemed oblivious to such problems. She was nice to everyone, and rarely had a snide remark about any of the other Dawns.
"Hey beautiful," said Hailey as she took my hand and pulled me off my stoop and into the fray. "Ready for Junction?"
"Sure, I guess." Junction was one of many puzzle games that we played between exercises. The Administrators claimed that both mental and physical exercises were equally important and that it was impossible to reach Surface Status without a keen intellect. All of the games were played on miniature view screens in the Common Room, and our scores were tracked, with leader boards posted on display screens located throughout the Facility. The top three performers in each game were lauded with the same honors awarded to those who excelled in the physical contests.
Hailey was far more adept at the mental challenges than I was, even once breaking into the top three of a game called Xyz, which required the player to quickly identify words that could be spelled with a random grouping of letters. My talent lied in more physical challenges, like swimming and combat training. I never made it to the top three of any event, but I was still considered one of the best contenders in our class.
"You don't like Junction?" Hailey sounded shocked.
Junction was a game in which the player needed to build a track made out of oddly shaped patterns for a ball to roll through and reach a designated safe area. The track would often span gaps, requiring the player to build ramps that could launch the ball a safe distance ahead. It required a deft ability in geometry and physics, which I lacked. "It's okay, I guess."
Hailey's eyes grew wide and she smiled when she said, "I love it."
"Of course you do. You're good at it."
She smiled, rolled her eyes, and shrugged as if embarrassed. "You really think so?"
"Yes, of course I do. You're always at the top of the boards."
"Thanks." She was acting oddly bashful about her accomplishment.
"Thanks for what? You always get high scores in Junction. I'm just telling the truth."
"Thanks for noticing, I mean."
We shared an odd glance, she appeared bashful and my expression must have been one of confusion. "What's with you? You're acting weird."
She giggled and shook her head. I noticed that her cheeks had started to blush as she said, "Nothing, sorry."
There were other girls around us, all in a rush to get to the Common Room and secure a seat at one of the popular tables. Most of the Reds stayed together at a table in the back, but Hailey was often able to sit at a Yellow table. She constantly fluttered between the groups, oblivious to the discord between them.
The Common Room was the largest area in the facility and was furnished with plush couches and revolving chairs. There were short tables throughout that the couches and chairs circled, and it was expected that eight girls would occupy each table - no more, no less. Tablets with touch screens were available for any girl that wanted to practice one of the mental challenge games, but I rarely took the opportunity to do so and instead focused on the social opportunity of the gathering space.
The ceiling of the Common Room was angled and frighteningly high. I got vertigo if I stared up and we once postulated that it was at least thirty or forty feet straight up before even reaching the ceiling's slant. The ceiling rose at a single angle instead of a pyramid, making one side much higher than the other. Such a large space was rare in the Facility, and the open air unsettled me.
When we entered through the arched double doors I pulled Hailey to the side, away from the other girls, and asked her again, "What's with you?"
"I told you, nothing."
I frowned at her. "That's not true. I've known you for too long. I can tell when you're lying."
She smiled and looked down shyly. Then she looked to her left, toward the flow of other girls coming into the Common Room, and took my hand to pull me farther to the side. We sat at an empty table; a rarity in the Facility as most of the girls were in a rush to sit next to others whose friendship helped their social standing. The room was quickly filling with girls and Hailey took a deep breath as she leaned closer to me on the couch we'd taken.
"Promise not to say anything." She whispered to me while glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear.
"Sure. What's going on?"
Her cheeks blazed red and she pulled her loose curls over her naturally red lips as if trying to hide what she was going to say. She held her head low while still looking up at me, her cherub eyes awash in a sea of red hair and crimson cheeks. "I had a dream about you last night."
I was taken aback by the admission and feigned not to understand what she meant. "Okay. So? No big deal about that. I have dreams with you in them from time to time."
She shook her head demurely and let go of her hair as she reached out to touch my leg, halting my response. "Not that kind of dream." She leaned in closer
and gripped my leg tighter. "A different kind of dream. Do you know what I mean?"
Now it was my turn to blush. I shook my head, flustered and unsure how to react. I was titillated by her admission and, if circumstances had been different, would have loved nothing more than to sneak away with her and discuss every naughty detail of her dream. The mere thought of it quickened my pulse. I tried to say something, but the Common Room was filling up too fast and other girls were coming close to us now.
"Do you?" she asked again, seemingly saddened by my lack of response.
I was too afraid to answer and glanced away, toward the approaching Reds that thought sitting at a table with Hailey might help their standing. I smiled at them as they drew near and Hailey bristled at my avoidance of her question. She started to scoot further down the couch, mortified by my reaction. When she moved, I put my hand on her thigh and squeezed to keep her close. I hoped the action would be enough to convey my interest and when I looked at her I knew that it did. She smiled coyly before talking to one of her fellow Reds.
My heart raced and my fingers trembled. I slipped them under the soft polyester fabric of my leggings while smiling at the other girls gathering around us. My emotions whirled between excitement and trepidation as I daydreamed about the possibility of divulging my fantasies to Hailey. Then I dared to imagine touching her and, as if in response to my ignoble thoughts, someone cried out in terror from somewhere far off.
The scream was distant and quick enough that many of the girls in the Common Room hadn't heard it the first time. The buzz of conversation still dominated the area, but many of us were silenced in shock at what we thought we heard.
A second scream got everyone's attention. This time the caterwaul drew on for far too long. It rose and fell in waves, as if the source was being throttled, and was then followed with a hollow banging.
The cavernous size of the Common Room made it hard to distinguish where any noise came from, but most of us came to the conclusion that the scream originated high above - somewhere in the ceiling that loomed over our heads.